I sure would... Or seriously waterproof it in some other way.

I would consider having two square tiles put in the backsplash at the location of the taps. The escutcheons of your faucet would rest on these "pads", and the 3d backsplash tiles would be cut around the squares. Keeping the tiles clean, now that is another matter!

tamizami- Those two faucets require an inwall valve. The handle controls the mix of hot and cold that comes out of the spout, but the mixing occurs inside the wall. For example, if you go to this link and click on the Installation instruction, you will see the in-wall valve for that second faucet: Cifial The design starcraft shows above does not require an in-wall valve as the hot and cold supplies come out of the wall and the temperature of the water from the spout is controlled by the two handles. That was the difference I was trying to explain above. You can find that type of faucet with a single handle as well, but what you just pictured above does not fit the bill for not having an in-wall valve. Before buying, you should look at the spec sheet for any faucet first to make sure you understand exactly how it needs to be installed. Personally, I wouldn't worry about having an in-wall valve as long as I knew the faucet was from a reliable company so that replacement parts were likely to be available into the future. If you can get replacement parts, you can typically refurbish the valve without having to dig in to the wall. I just re-did the faucet cartridges for my 15 year old wall-mount bathroom faucets which have in-wall valves and had no problem getting the proper replacement cartridges from the manufacturer. But that is also a good argument for sticking with well-established companies that maintain a parts inventory for decades, and are domestically supplied. Nothing worse than not being able to find parts years later for a high-fashion, $2000 Italian faucet. :-)

I have heard that people struggle with getting the plumbing right when they use non-ikea sinks due to the depth of the drawers. Was curious if leaving the hole behind the sink was the path of least resistance, or if they really are using different counters and sinks altogether.